a little slice of Sweden

You must have thought that I'm referring to Ikea in the title.

But neh, it's not Ikea.

After two rounds (was that considered one lol?) of L4D2 with the girlies on Monday, we took a walk down Haji Lane and Arab Street and found a quaint-looking Swedish cafe/bistro called fika at the end of Arab Street (along Beach Road to be more specific).

Liking that cute little moose atop the letter "i"

One of the 2 shopfronts; this one faces Beach Road.

It was tea-time (sorta) and the heat was melting us, so the idea of a nice place to sit down for a cuppa and some cakes/desserts was really enticing. Thought it would be an interesting place to check out since my dining experiences with Swedish cuisine are mostly can only be associated with Ikea.

Since we were still kind of full from our pancakey brunch, we settled for just drinks and cakes.

Ordered 2 cakes to share, and the girlies had 2 pots of tea while I had a capp.
Not too sure if it's self-service but we walked up to the counter to have our orders placed. There wasn't too many people around when we arrived (2-3 other tables were occupied), and I really enjoyed the sort of tranquility that filled the place. The clean-looking walls and furniture contributed somewhat to that peacefulness too. 

Cappucino ($5.50) - a cuppa a day.

This was quite basic, and the first time I'm seeing chocolate syrup being used to decorate a cappucino.

(have been cafe-spotting a fair bit recently hehe)

fika roughly translates to taking a coffe/squash/tea break (with something sweet) with some friends or family, so it was most fitting that we were there at that point in time!

Caramel-something-something cake ($7.90)

Chocolate-something-fudge cake ($7.90)

The cakes are a little on the pricey side (observed that most other cafes price similar cakes/tarts between $5-6) so thank goodness they tasted quite alright. Both cakes were tender and moist, and the chocolate tasted rich. It felt slightly decadent each time I delivered a morsel of cake to my mouth.

elegant-looking plates

shake shake shake

The cafe's white-washed interior and big windows makes it look very clean, bright and inviting; something that I take to be a common feature of Scandinavian interior architectural design
(again, I have to disclaim my knowledge is limited to Ikea showrooms and catalogs).

Not too bad a place to catch up with pals, and I wouldn't mind coming back again to try some of the Swedish mains when I have slightly more money to spare.